Visit The Boston Globe Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Comment on this Scroll to top of page Sean P. Murphy Globe Staff July 16, 2018 Thelma Kaminsky always had a big smile and a kind word for everyone in the Winthrop apartment building where she had lived for almost 15 years. People say she just had a knack for making friends.But when she died last month at age 87, no friends gathered in her building to grieve and pay their respects. There were no hugs, no tears, no laughter, no chance for the elderly women in her circle to come together with Kaminsky’s family to reflect on what a dear, treasured friend they had lost.The managers of the building wouldn’t allow it. They refused her family’s request to host a bereavement gathering in the building’s common room. Advertisement “We wanted a little reception for Thelma and for her friends,” said Myrna Sadowsky, 79, Kaminsky’s cousin. “It’s what people do … [Read more...] about Denied a chance to say goodbye to an old friend

This article is available to Members of The Local. Read more Membership Exclusives here. If you are an employee in Germany, you will most likely notice nearly a fifth of your income disappearing every month from your payslip into a retirement fund. Those losses are what expat adviser Patrick Ott considers an ever-growing gain at retirement age. He talked with The Local about how the German pension plan, or retirement savings, doesn’t just benefit full-time employees, but also freelancers, families and those who plan to retire in other corners of the world. "The German pension plan is a great social welfare system that’s been around since Germany still had an emperor," says Ott, a senior financial adviser with Chambervelt, Roose and Co. Who pays? If you are working full-time in Germany, no matter the amount of time, pension contributions tend to be non-negotiable and are required by law. Yet freelancers, anyone working less than 15 hours a week, and those in … [Read more...] about How to make the most of your German pension

Can virtual reality really soothe pain? Jo Marchant meets the doctors who say yes, and who hope this is a solution for the country consuming 80 percent of the world’s opioid supply: the United States of America. “It’s like a crawly feeling inside,” says Judy*. “You get hot, then chilled, and you feel like you want to run away.” The 57-year-old has short dark-grey hair and a haunted expression. She’s breathless and sits with her right leg balanced up on her walking stick, rocking it back and forth as she speaks. Judy explains that she suffers from constant, debilitating pain: arthritis, back problems, fibromyalgia and daily migraines. She was a manager at a major electronics company until 2008, but can no longer work. She often hurts too much even to make it out of bed. She’s taking around 20 different medications each day, including painkillers, antidepressants, sedatives and a skin patch containing a high dose of the opioid drug … [Read more...] about How VR could be the answer to America’s opioid epidemic